"The chances of us bringing in a guy for six (years) and $25 million or over in my opinion is virtually none," Yankees president Randy Levine told reporters Wednesday . "At the end of the day you have to be realistic in any organization."

Levine never mentioned Scherzer directly, but the dots aren't hard to connect.

The Yankees are already on the hook for $48 million for CC Sabathia over the next two seasons and $20 million for Masahiro Tanaka in 2015.

Scherzer is "a great pitcher," a source told ESPNNewYork.com , "but not even the Yankees can have three $25 [million] to $30 million pitchers on the payroll. You just can't."

The Yankees are always assumed to be in the bidding war for top free agents, but with Sabathia, Tanaka, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez making more than $20 million in 2015, they will sit this one out.

"I do not anticipate playing in that high-end free-agent market," Yankees GM Brain Cashman told Newsday on Tuesday.